We get to know some interesting characters by reading field notes. Floyd Alonzo McClure (1897-1970) was one of these characters that I had the pleasure of learning about while cataloging SIA collection T90028.

McClure was a bamboo guy. (We really get familiar with these collectors, don’t we?) To put it another way, he studied Bambusoideae, a large group of genera in the grass family (Poaceae), for the majority of his career. His major work was the publication “The Bamboos, a Fresh Perspective,” which was published in 1966. McClure’s connection to the Smithsonian began in 1940s, when he joined the National Museum of Natural History as an Honorary Research Associate. But let’s start a little earlier.

China

McClure was born in 1897 in Shelby County, Ohio. He attended Ohio State University where he earned a BS in Agriculture in 1919. That year, McClure took a position in China teaching Economic Botany at Canton Christian College (later Lingnan University), a move that would define much of his life and career and lead him to spend 24 years in that country.

Several collaborators, including Joseph B. Lambert
(Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois), and I have been steadily
pursuing the study of plant exudates (e.g. resins, gums, kinos) and ambers
(fossilized plant resins) worldwide for several decades. Through their
chemistry as well as biological inclusions, in the case of amber, these
materials help us understand our past. For example, amber materials we have
studied from Chiapas, Mexico, contain inclusions, such as the base of a
barnacle and carbonates strongly suggesting a tropical coastal environment
million of years ago.

If the exudate happens to be a resin, the nuclear magnetic
resonance NMR spectroscopy profile can help us determine the botanical
provenance, such as the plant family and sometimes the genus. For instance,
using the carbon-13 isotope, the resinous exudates of conifers can be placed
into their correct family (e.g. Pinaceae, Cupressaceae, etc.). Additionally,
the same resinous exudates of pines and their allies can be further correctly
identified to genera if proton NMR is performed.

Some key discoveries resulting from those efforts have
included the establishment of a typology of ambers of the world as well as a
classification of modern plant exudates of the world. Although exudates have
distinct physical properties, looks can be deceiving. An exudate collected from
Pinus coulteri D. Don (Pinaceae) is a resin and it is the most commonly
collected exudate in conifers. Milky exudates, often called latexes, are also
resins, as in the materials oozed by Euphorbia tirrucali L.
(Euphorbiaceae). Exudates from cherry trees, like those that ornate our
nation’s capital, are gums, as in the case of Prunus sp. (Rosaceae).

Exudates are ubiquitous in the plant world. If any reader
sees materials that look like plant exudates, I will appreciate a sample (100
mg or the approximate volume of an eraser on a pencil) or knowing about who to
contact to collect such materials.

05/13/2013

The plant mounting room at Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History is buzzing with productivity. It has been a pleasure getting to know the dedicated
volunteers, contractors, and staff plant mounters who help prepare the
specimens for our research programs. These are treasures of the US collection.
We are working on current exchange material for curators while also incorporating
specimens from the backlog. The plant mounters have unique backgrounds and are
a delightful group to work with. I am also happy to report that two new
volunteers, Joan Carpenter and Traute Bushley, have joined the
mounting crew, are learning the protocol, and are contributing to this
wonderful group. For the first three months of 2013, we have mounted 3,362
specimens for the collection.

I am working on incorporating “learning moments” for the
volunteers who are interested in botany and encourage curators and visitors to
stop by the mounting room to share any plant knowledge or stories. Many of
these volunteers have been coming to work on this project for years and it just
shows that they enjoy contributing to our nation’s collection and find it a
rewarding experience.

Learn about three noteworthy newly
mounted acquisitions below the fold...

05/09/2013

When the August 2011 earthquake damaged the shelving in the
Botany-Horticulture library at Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History in Washington, DC, the last thing on anyone’s mind was reorganizing
the entire 100,000 book and journal collection, plus modernizing the reading
room space. However, a year and a half later, this is exactly what has
happened.

During meetings with the Department of Botany, Smithsonian
Gardens, and Smithsonian Libraries, all parties decided this was an opportunity
to consolidate and merge several collections. Several meetings were held in the
fall of 2011 to discuss how to go about making this project a reality. Once the
18,000 books and journals, originally displaced by the earthquake, were brought
back to the library in early January 2012, plans were already underway to
prepare for two other major shifts of the collection. The first shift, occurred
over three days in June, and involved incorporating 2,000 books on ferns and
lichens and part of E. Yale Dawson’s donation of phycology books with the main
collection.